Pro Football RumorsJerry Schuplinski – Pro Football Rumorshttps://www.profootballrumors.com
NFL Rumors: Trades, Free Agency, DraftMon, 19 Nov 2018 23:44:30 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.6Coaching Rumors: Pats, Chargers, Texanshttps://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/02/coaching-rumors-patriots-flores-schuplinski-chargers-texans-titans-cardinals
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/02/coaching-rumors-patriots-flores-schuplinski-chargers-texans-titans-cardinals#commentsTue, 13 Feb 2018 23:55:23 +0000https://www.profootballrumors.com/?p=94334The Patriots are currently the only club without a defensive coordinator in place, and New England could follow in the footsteps of the Eagles — who may not hire an OC — and not officially name a new coordinator, as Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com speculates (via Twitter). Incumbent linebackers coach Brian Flores is viewed as the favorite to succeed Matt Patricia on the Patriots’ staff, but as Breer notes, Bill Belichick has given former assistants time to grow before placing them in coordinator roles. Patricia, for one, called New England’s defensive plays for two seasons before being given the DC title. Additionally, current offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called plays for the Patriots in 2005 despite not having the official coordinator moniker.

Here’s more from the 2018 coaching carousel:

Jerry Schuplinski had been expected to follow McDaniels to Indianapolis, but now that that ship has sailed, Schuplinski will return to the Patriots‘ staff as assistant quarterbacks coach, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. Reports earlier this offseason indicated Schuplinski had an “outside chance” to succeed McDaniels as New England’s offensive play-caller, but a path to the Colts had seemed more likely as of last week. Now, Schuplinski — who has been with the Patriots since 2013 — will work with Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer, and possibly another signal-caller if New England selects a passer in the upcoming draft.

The Chargers have announced several new hires, including the addition of former Bills wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan in the same role. McGeoghan, who spent only one season in Buffalo, will replace Nick Sirianni, who is now the Colts’ offensive coordinator. He’ll get to work with a receiving corps that includes Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Travis Benjamin. Additionally, Los Angeles has hired Keith Burns (assistant special teams) and Addison Lynch (defensive quality control).

The Cardinals have hired former University of Findlay offensive coordinator Troy Rothenbuhler as an offensive quality control coach, reports Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Rothenbuhler had spent his entire coaching career in the collegiate ranks, and spent the past seven years as Findlay’s play-caller.

A report from NBC Sports Boston’s Gary Tanguay indicates (Twitter link) the Patriots are planning to interview Ohio State DC Greg Schiano for the DC job, but Florio hears that if Schiano joins the New England staff it will be in a different position.

A possible Schiano route to the Pats’ DC job, per Florio, would then come as a result of Flores being hired as a head coach elsewhere. Considering he was in the mix for the Cardinals’ job for weeks, that could well happen soon.

Florio adds an outside chance exists that assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski succeeds McDaniels, but the belief is he has not been coaching with the team long enough make this ascent. McDaniels has coached the Pats’ QBs and run the offense. Schuplinski was an offensive assistant from 2013-15 before taking over as the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2016.

O’Shea, meanwhile, has been the Patriots’ wideouts coach for the past nine seasons. The 45-year-old assistant’s been a full-time position coach since 2004, when he made his NFL debut as the Chiefs’ assistant special teams coach.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

]]>0Latest On Josh McDaniels, Patriots’ Staffhttps://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/01/latest-on-josh-mcdaniels-patriots-staff
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2018/01/latest-on-josh-mcdaniels-patriots-staff#commentsSun, 28 Jan 2018 14:16:31 +0000https://www.profootballrumors.com/?p=92761Josh McDaniels had his second interview with the Colts on Friday, and it apparently went well. Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link) that, shortly after the conclusion of Super Bowl LII, Indianapolis will hire McDaniels as its next head coach.

Of course, this hardly qualifies as breaking news. We have known for some time now that McDaniels would be heading to the Colts once New England’s season is over, and the Friday interview was largely just an opportunity for him to sit down with Indianapolis GM Chris Ballard and owner Jim Irsay to make plans for the offseason. As Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com tweets, Irsay was not present for the first interview, so the second summit was needed to get the owner’s official stamp of approval.

McDaniels will now turn his attention towards bringing yet another Super Bowl to New England before he departs. The Patriots, meanwhile, will need to replace not only McDaniels, but DC Matt Patricia as well. Plus, as Schefter points out, Pats special teams coordinator Joe Judge is on an expiring contract, and Ben Volin of the Boston Globe hears that Judge may well join Patricia in Detroit (Twitter link).

Volin writes in a full-length piece that Patriots LB coach Brian Flores — who got some head coaching interest this year — seems like the obvious candidate to replace Patricia as New England’s DC. The real question, then, is who (if anyone) will replace McDaniels.

As Volin notes, head coach Bill Belichick has not had to fill either top coordinator position since 2012, but his history suggests that if he does name a new offensive coordinator, he will promote from within. Indeed, all of Belichick’s coordinators during his 18-year tenure in New England either worked with him at a previous stop or worked their way up inside the Pats’ organization.

During a portion of Belichick’s reign, the team has not even had an official offensive coordinator. McDaniels ran the offense as a quarterbacks coach in 2005, and current Texans head coach Bill O’Brien called plays for the offense during the 2008-09 seasons but did not hold the OC title.

Nonetheless, someone will need to run the offense, regardless of title, and Volin says the only two realistic choices on-staff are assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski and receivers coach Chad O’Shea. Of the two, Volin sees O’Shea as the more likely target, as he has experience in all facets of the game and currently serves as the team’s red zone offense coordinator.